A joint European–Chinese spacecraft has blasted off into orbit on a pioneering mission to uncover what happens when violent solar storms crash into Earth’s magnetic shield, in a project that could improve forecasts of dangerous space weather and deepen understanding of the auroras that light up polar skies.
The spacecraft, known as SMILE, lifted off aboard a Vega-C rocket at 03h52 GMT on Tuesday from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America. Around 55 minutes later, the spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket at an altitude of 700 kilometres and began its long journey into a highly elliptical orbit far above Earth.
